We are Korean Moms in training dedicated to psycho-analyzing our moms, reliving horrible memories of embarrassment and dread for the benefit of the public...all the while laughing like a wheezy grandpa. Someone needs to pay for our therapy...

Monday, March 17, 2008

#1 Perms

At a certain juncture in a Korean mother's life...she feels the undeniable urge to rock the Little Orphan Annie look. The perm is supposed to enhance fullness in her hair...but usually results in a frizzy halo that ushers in another era in a Korean mother's life (see 'Ahjumah'). This is a rite of passage and cannot be stopped. One will often hear young Korean women saying to each other "I'm never going to get that perm thing", but they all know deep in their hearts they will eventually succumb to the undeniable pull of the Perm. As a Korean mom ages, the perm will never change or deteriorate...although her face might.

My mom actually starting perming her hair because my grandmother, my mother's MIL, told her she couldn't be an ajumma without one. So srs~ I don't think she could imagine life without the perm now, unfortunately.

My Korean mom had me convinced that all Korean women MUST maintain a fake perm look at all times. I thought it was a rule. She gave me a perm in 7th grade then gave me a boy hair cut. I also had glasses and braces at the time and played violin and piano. Then told me I was pretty (ee ppoo dah!) except for my flat Korean butt. She is in her 60's now and I have never ever seen her with natural hair. Ever.

Tattoo eyebrows are my personal favorite. My mom rocked the perm for as long as I can remember. But I have to be honest, as I remember it, it wasn't a bad perm. As the years went on her hair get redder and redder though.

OMG. I remember my mom's "pama" phase...oh holy god they started to use the ginseng scented pama solution which stunk just as bad as the original stuff. You're not fooling anyone with the crap. She stopped perming because she finally determined that it was a #13. Before we got there, my mom had my hair permed once, which didn't take. She also put me through the boy cut phase where it was partly shaved in the back and angled lower in the front. I thought I looked like Ramona Quimby and cried for days. Now I carry out my revenge by growing my hair out and refusing to pull it back.

Hey, I started getting pama's before my Dol! (To the gringo's, that means before I turned 1!) I was thinking about doing it to my own daughter (she just turned 4 so she should count her lucky stars I haven't done it yet) because if I had to go through it, it's only fair that she does too, right?

I think my mother started perming my hair when I was in 4th grade. I finally stopped getting perms about 10 years ago and discovered my hair was wavy anyway. My baby sister turned 30 last year and my mother is still suggesting she cut her hair and get a "root perm" just to give it "some body."

I saw a couple of comments about tattooed make up. Holy cow, my mother flipped out when she found out my sister had a tattoo, but she has tattooed eye make up. "It's not the same! This is to save time in the morning!" Yeah. She's still always late to everything.

I just finished reading your entire blog. It's hilarious and so right on the money. I'm white, married to a Korean man, and naturally he has a mother. She has so many of the traits that you described. Loveable, crazy Korean moms!

I remember having long hair when I was 6 yrs old. And one day I was eating ramen my hair kept getting in the way. So my mom cut it short and then got a really tight perm. Yeah I have quite a few pictures of myself with a mini afro. At one point she asked to cut my oldest daughters hair sorry but I had to draw the line on that! lol

The perm thing is so true - never realized it til I went to Korea and noticed that every Ahjima (sp) had permed black hair. I thought it was funny when my 11 year old son made the comment about how all the Ahjimas looked like grandma....and he is was right! My mom, thank-fully has stopped perming her hair.